The Michigan State hockey team left Portland with some extra bounce in its step after handling Lake Superior State 4-1 on the final day of the Ice Breaker tournament Saturday at the Cross Insurance Arena.

“We faced a little bit of adversity early in the season. Guys are strapping it up and doing whatever it takes,” Spartans Coach Tom Anastos said, noting that several players suffered minor injuries in the two games.

J.T. Stenglein of Michigan State, right, celebrates with Michael Ferrantino after Ferrantino scored in the first period of the 4-1 victory against Lake Superior State on Saturday. The teams met in the first game of the second day of the Ice Breaker tournament at the Cross Insurance Arena. Photos by Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Carson Gatt of Michigan State flicks the puck to a teammate after making a defensive play on Alex Globke of Lake Superior State during the third period.

Michigan State (1-0-1) broke free from a 1-1 tie after one period to subdue the Lakers (0-2). Senior goaltender Jake Hildebrand made 15 of his 29 saves in the second period to quell any thoughts of a Lake Superior State rally.

“Really good goalies need to stand up at key times and he did that late in that second period,” Anastos said.

Michigan State tied Maine 3-3 in Friday night’s opening round of the tournament. The Black Bears won a shootout, but that was held purely to determine a winner in this tournament and does not count in NCAA records.

Spartans senior defenseman Travis Walsh, the son of the late former Maine coach Shawn Walsh, had an assist on one of the goals for his first point of the season. He said the trip to his home state was productive for his team.

“We’re excited to take the next step,” Walsh said. “We head to Denver next weekend and feel obviously much more prepared for that.”

Lakers Coach Damon Whitten, whose team was outscored 9-3 in two losses here this weekend, was less enthused.

“The results aren’t there so it’s disappointment. We came out here with a goal and we didn’t accomplish that,” Whitten said.

His team will get two more cracks at his alma mater, Michigan State, in three weeks.

WENDY FROST was mingling with a few hundred fellow Maine hockey enthusiasts five hours before gametime Saturday at a block party across the street from the arena.

“I’m just here to see all the other fans,” said Frost, a season ticket holder since 2000 who lives in Northeast Harbor.

“There’s a ton of fans in this area, and so we get to see a whole bunch of new people that can’t necessarily get to the Alfond.”

Frost and her husband, Jack, became hooked on Black Bear hockey while watching the team win the 1993 national championship. They got on a waiting list for season tickets the next season, told it would take 10 years. The wait was only 6 1/2.

The Frosts are so devoted to the team that they even built a second home in Glenburn for use on weekends, cutting out the 90-minute commute to Orono from Northeast Harbor. They call it their “hockey house.”

“We absolutely love Maine hockey,” Frost said. “It’s my passion.”

CHRIS EMMONS was relieved to see sunny skies at the block party his company helped organize. Emmons, a 1976 UMaine graduate, is president of Gorham Savings Bank, title sponsor of the Ice Breaker tournament.

“I was sweating bullets looking at the forecast thinking if it’s going to be rainy or windy, it’s going to be a disaster,” said Emmons while sporting a Black Bear hockey sweater. “The atmosphere is good and everybody seems to be excited.”

Emmons said the goal in sponsoring the tournament was to provide an economic boost for local businesses and “to connect the university back to the southern part of the state.”